Generations of Oregonians work their family farms

View full sizeCourtesy of Carpenter FoundationHarvard-educated brothers Leonard, left, and Alfred Carpenter planted a pear orchard and founded the Rocky Knoll family farm in Medford in 1909.

Oregon's Century Farm program honors farm and ranch families that have worked the same land for 100 years or more.

Eleven farms were added to the list this summer. Oregon now has 1,128 Century Farms and 23 Sesquicentennial Farms. In addition to Chegwyn Farms in Yamhill County, here's the list, with more information about some of the farms.

Woods Farm, Tillamook County, 1911:

Ruth Woods had hoped to bake a cake on July 11 for a special occasion: 100 years that her family has operated a dairy at the first place over the first bridge along the Big Nestucca River. She was too busy to get to it, but that doesn't dim the significance.

Her husband, Edwin, succeeded his father and ran the dairy until he died from Parkinson's disease five years ago. "We had five children and 11 grandchildren -- I'm never lonely, thank goodness," Ruth says.

Her sons, Wayne and Greg, formed a partnership and milk about 150 registered Jerseys for the creamery in Tillamook. "My boys love the Jerseys," she says. "It's an honor to be a dairyman.

"I think it will always be in the family. If not, well, life goes on."

James Langdon farms the combined 675 acres. His sister, Dorothy Langdon, applied for Century Farm status in recognition of their father, Delbert, who died in 1999.

"You realize how much and how hard they worked," Dorothy says. "They were cutting hay with a horse or by hand, and loading it up on a wagon. Today we have air-conditioned tractors and balers."

That realization is a source of the family's pride in the land and the people who worked it.

"This is where I grew up, our great-grandparents lived there," she says. "And here we are, fishing out of the same creek and cutting hay and putting it in the same barn.

"The vineyard next door would love to have it, but you know what? They're not going to get it."

Rocky Knoll Farm, Jackson County, 1909

A pair of Harvard men, Leonard and Alfred Carpenter, arrived by way of Colorado and began by planting a pear orchard. The brothers were Emily Mostue's great uncles. Her father, Dunbar Carpenter, followed them, and her son, David Mostue, is the fourth generation on the place.

"We're all building on what went before," Emily Mostue says. "Blood, sweat, tears and creative thought."

The pears are gone because the 180-acre farm can't compete with the big growers. Instead, they have a 90-acre hay field and a vineyard that produces Dunbar Red, a claret. David Mostue taps the local-food movement by growing grain, beans and vegetables for direct sale. Emily Mostue is president of the Carpenter Foundation, which was started by great-uncle Alfred and grants about $650,000 a year to human services, education and arts groups.

The farm is within Medford's city limits but is protected by agricultural zoning. "By and large, people love having the open space, so they're pretty tolerant when we bale (hay) at midnight," Emily Mostue says.

The other farms include:

Bierly Farm, Linn County, 1911 Raised cows, hogs and chickens in the early days. Now a grass seed operation farmed by Charley Wolff.

Cantrell Ranch, Union County, 1881 At one time leased horses to the Army. Didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing until the 1950s. Now raises beef, horses, goats and llamas. Applicant was Howard Cantrell.

Flowers Farms, Klamath County, 1911 Began as a 1,000-acre dairy farm, now grows potatoes, grains and corn. Robert and Christy Flowers applied for certification.

Muilenburg Farm, Union County, 1911 Grew hay and grain, raised beef and milk cows, pigs and chickens. Applicant Anna Belle Muilenburg Brown moved back to the farm in 1995.

P.J. Rohde Ranch, Umatilla County, 1905 The original 160 acres has grown to 2,500. The family raised wheat, Walla Walla sweet onions, mint, barley and hogs, but now concentrates on wheat. Glenn Rhode applied for certification.